Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of local authorities which have adopted powers under the London Local Authorities Act 2007 to re-use graves where burial rights have been extinguished since that Act came into force.

Simon Hughes

The Ministry of Justice has not made an estimate of the number of grave spaces created since the introduction of the London Local Authorities Act 2007 or the number of local authorities who have used powers under the Act to re-use graves. However, as the Ministry of Justice has responsibility for burial law and policy, I am keeping the issue of burial space under active review including considering what legislative changes might be necessary to address a shortage of graves.